Returning to happier themes, no better' illustration of the apparent stability and permanence of Minorca as a British dominion can be given than by relating an intriguing event on the island in 1749, shortly after Cleghorn's departure.
On 18 August of that year a naval vessel signalled and anchored off Quarantine Island, with an unusual visitor on board.
The British garrison, accustomed to the comings and goings of military and naval officers of high rank, took little notice of the arrival of a young man of twenty-six ,a civilian of no apparent rank or substance. Yet he was destined for fame and wealth, being none other than the future Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Reynolds's little-known visit to Minorca occurred on his way to Italy, where he planned to study the portrait painting of Raphael and Michelangelo. Reynolds was gifted but poor, and the realisation of his plan had seemed an impossible dream. His visit came about by a strange intervention of nature, and lasted for five months, owing to a second fortuitous happening. Minorca left its mark on Reynolds for life.
On 25 April, Reynolds had been staying with his friend Lord Edgcumbe, at the latter's home near Plymouth, painting portraits
of his family. Edgcumbe, himself a young man, and destined to play an important naval part in Minorca seventeen years later, had taken a liking to Reynolds, and Reynolds had told him of his dream.
Even as he spoke, a more famous young naval officer, Commander Keppel, bound for the Mediterranean in the Centurion, ran into a westerly gale two miles out of Spithead, and sprung both topmasts, damaging his rigging. Altering course, he put into Plymouth for repairs, and joined his friend Edgcumbe's household until these should be completed. Thus fortuitously Keppel and Reynolds met, and took an instant liking to each other.

As a result of this friendship Keppel offered Reynolds a berth as his personal guest on the Centurion, and so it was agreed. Reynolds was so poor that the problem of incidental living expenses on so long a cruise arose. His sisters Mary and Elizabeth came to the rescue, and he sailed from Plymouth on 11 May 1749.
Reynolds had never been to sea before, but quickly settled down to the leisurely routine of the voyage. The sleek, graceful Centurion carried a complement of 400 men, but her guns had been reduced in numbers to provide more cabin space. Keppel proved the perfect host, and Reynolds shared his spacious day cabin, with its excellent library. They put in at Gibraltar on 18 June, and before calling in at Minorca had a skirmish with the Dey of Algiers.
The Centurion put into Port Mahon on 18 August after a voyage of just over three months. Through Keppel's influence, Reynolds stayed at St Philip's Castle as the personal guest of the governor, the aged General Blakeney. The English ladies in the garrison were intrigued by the young painter, who was popular at their balls. Throughout the summer and autumn days he joined their pleasure excursions-mainly on mules-to the surrounding bays. But unfortunately he had a riding accident, which for some time confined him to his room, and delayed his sailing for five months.
During this period of convalescence, he is said to have painted twenty-five to thirty portraits of army and naval officers of the garrison, practically none of which have been traced. There exists one of Keppel of this period, a slim figure with hand in tunic, very different from the later portly figure. But the others are lost to posterity, and a fortune awaits their finder.
The riding accident disfigured Reynolds's face for life, and some of his self-portraits show a lip disfigurement. Only one of the letters Reynolds wrote from Minorca has survived. It was to his girl-friend in England, Miss Weston. (He never married.)
In it he wrote: 'my lips are spoiled for kissing'.

  43